Carnage of Corruption
There are a lot of dead bodies left across Los Angeles by the time the film comes to a conclusion and we’re not just talking about minor characters at the Nite Owl Massacre. Without giving too much away, half of the first ten characters listed on IMDB wind up taking a dirt nap. All this carnage serves as imagery, especially since they all meet their end in a variety of ways under myriad circumstances. The message being sent is corruption kills if you get in its way.
“Rollo Tomasi”
A name is mentioned five or six times over the course of the movie. The audience knows it is not a real person and the name has absolutely no connection to a single crime being investigated or occurring on screen. It nevertheless becomes the single most important name in the film and serves as imagery because is becomes significant to unraveling the last remaining threads of the corruption which is poisoning the police department. Importantly, “Rollo Tomasi” also provides insight into the character of Exley, makes the death of Vincennes exponentially more dramatic and serves to identify the heart of evil in the LAPD.
Hush-Hush
Hush-Hush is the sleazy tabloid based on the proliferation of tabloids like Confidential magazine in the 1950’s. Buyers snatched up these magazines every week to read the latest titillating news about their favorite movies stars and though tabloids would continue even until today, the 1950’s was really their heyday for a variety of reasons. The scenes involving Hush-Hush bring the decade to life in a way with which a lot of younger viewers are not familiar because it is not a part of Hollywood history that was put on television every week in nostalgic TV shows.
Allusions and References
The film contains many direct references and several thinly veiled allusions to real life historical events that help lend it an air of authenticity. A major character intentionally resembles starlet Veronica Lake. Lana Turner and her gangster boyfriend are featured in a cameo. Real-life gangster Mickey Cohen is featured briefly, but plays a huge part in the actual plot if one is paying close attention. The TV show which Jack Vincennes advises is based on the long-running crime drama Dragnet. Even the Christmas riot inside the police station is based on a true event. While many viewers may not recognize or be familiar with these ties to authenticity, they act as imagery to cement the underlying foundation of police corruption being stepped in historical reality.
